Soil to Satisfaction, Bidco Initiative to Rejuvenate Soybeans, Sunflower production

Bidco Africa, one of the Leading consumer goods manufacturer in East Africa ‘soil to satisfaction’  aims to improve nearly 30,000 farmers who grow sunflower and soybeans.

John Kariuki, Head of Agribusiness Development, Bidco Africa says the initiative supports local farmers in agribusiness by offerings technical support to the farmer to increase yield results.

“We have contracted about 25,000 soya bean and sunflower farmers since 2015 – Nyanza, parts of Rift Valley, Meru, Bungoma,” he says.

“We engage farmers through offtake contracts. We are also looking at expanding to other business avenues,” he adds.

Bidco Africa believes in inclusive growth in agribusiness. Through the partnership, Bidco Africa can deal directly with individual small scale farmers. “But given the size of their enterprises, we advise farmers to form farmers’ groups or cooperatives to benefit from economies of scale,” notes Bidco.

This initiative is expected to rejuvenate Soya beans production in the country with latest statistics from International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) indicating that the country has annual deficit of 7000 metric tonnes.

In Kenya, vegetable oil is one of the key sub-sector of agriculture, currently, there are about thirty vegetable oil refiners in the country. The larger companies include Bidco Oil Refineries, Kapa Oil Refineries, Pwani Oil Refineries, Palmac Oil Refineries and Unilever.

Edible vegetable oils are extracted from plant sources or from seeds like corn, sunflower, soya bean, cashew nut, groundnut, palm, coconut, simsim (sesame) and cottonseed. Vegetable edible oils are important in foods and various other industries. They are key diet components and also do provide characteristic flavor and texture to food.

The local production of oil crops is projected at 20 million metric tonnes by the year 2019, of which over 5 million metric tonnes are expected to come from the Lake Basin region.

Annually, demand for soya in Kenya is estimated at between 50,000 and 70,000 metric tonnes because it is a high value and profitable crop.

Currently, the country is producing 2000-5000 metric tonnes per year against domestic demand of 12,000 metric tonnes, forcing local companies like Bidco and Promidisor to import.

In Kenya, for instance, data from the Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network (RATIN) a 90 Kilogram of  Soybeans is retailing highest in Mombasa at Ksh 9000 and lowest in Meru at Ksh 4500.

The current annual consumption of soyabeans in Kenya is at 36 metric tonnes lower than its highest in 2010 which was 40 metric tonnes according to Index Omundi.